Kiva Atheists first to reach $1 million

On October 7th 2009 around noon PST our team of Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Freethinkers, Secular Humanists and the Non-Religious surpassed our year-end goal of lending one million dollars (USD)!

Congratulations to all team members new and old. We have now officially built a community hub for secular people on the Internet. By the time this year ends we'll have blown past our goal and 2010 will likely see a flood of new team members as our almost 6000 members spread the word amongst the larger online secular community.

Kiva posted their congratulations on the Kiva blog and Premal Shah, Kiva's President, stopped by our team message board with these words of congratulations:

Hi Everyone -

Someone just sent an email to Kiva's office about this team hitting the $1M milestone. On behalf of Kiva's staff, CONGRATULATIONS and THANKS for being such an amazing community of lenders. We're inspired!

- Premal

Premal Shah
President
Kiva.org

Time to spread the word... Heather from our team has created a press release:

A Million Dollars of Micro Finance

One million dollars is a lot of money, especially for entrepreneurs around the world turning to microfinance institutions for loans. One million is the amount lent to these entrepreneurs by the team Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Freethinkers, Secular Humanists and the Non-Religious (AASFSHNR) at Kiva.org. Through Kiva, anyone can lend $25 or more to an entrepreneur looking for assistance. When a borrower repays, the money becomes available to re-lend.

AASFSHNR, just over 1 year old, is the first group to reach $1,000,000. Despite the modest goal of $50k in four months, 10 days after creation AASFSHNR hit $10,000. As the loans were paid back, or new money was lent, the group total climbed faster and faster.

AASFSHNR is a fantastic example of the generosity of atheists and others who fit into the group’s theme. We don’t always agree when posting on the team forum, but we do work hard to fund loans. In addition to our group’s milestone, Kiva is fast approaching an even more impressive moment. Collectively, Kiva lenders have lent nearly $100 million around the world. I invite everyone to Kiva. While you are at it, you’re welcome to visit us heathens.

Heather (check the team message board for her contact info or send her a private message on Kiva.org).